Designed to appear both graceful and menacing, the Triton is a fast, light fighter that packs a mean punch. It is easily recognized by its three-cannon, three-tail configuration. Excellent visibility, rediculously over-powered weapons and propulsion systems, and versatility are only a few of the things that make the Triton a superior spacecraft.

The nose-mounted cannon is a Sunburst, while the two wing mounted cannons are conventional heavy lasers. One of the more common variants, the A3-N/S Triton “Stealth” replaces the nose cannon with a pan-spectral scanner and is equipped with a cloaking system. The Stealth variant is used mainly for reconaissance but occasionally supports other ships in surprise assaults.

It’s been said that the Triton Fighter spoils men; once they fly it, they will never again fly anything less. The key to this fighter’s success is its oversized engines. Though they are seldom operated at over 50% power, they are there to provide the fighter’s other systems with an extended power supply. The Sunburst cannon alone could not operate with much less than the power provided by the two B class engines.

As a historical note, the Triton was designed by the same corporation that built the Skyraider, hence the slight similarity between the two craft.

The Hell Cat was my first attempt at a transforming vehicle. The first thing I realized is that I wasn’t going to be able to make it go to a robot mode, so I was content to have a simple Plane to Guardian transformation. The legs simply fold back and the arms fit inside of them. The transforming variant has a number of things wrong with it; it’s not realistic (the arms go where the engines should be) and the arms are too skinny. Finally (and most importantly), it’s ugly. The legs are too long and the wings are too short for plane mode to look good.

The non-transforming variant fixes these problems. The F-12A Hell Cat has the engines moved up directly underneath the rear wings with air intakes under the front wings. This was slightly inspired by the pink car from F-Zero (for SNES).

The Hell Cat has two hybrid in-or-out-of-atmoshpere engines. The engines operate as standard jet engines while in atmospheric flight and switch to a vented plasma mode when in space flight. Armament consists of 3 plasma missiles, one Sunburst heavy laser cannon, and two anti-matter ejection cannons.

The Kestrel is a light assault helicopter armed with 4 machine guns and 2 air to air missiles. Most of the things I build are futuristic spacecraft. The Kestrel is an exception and uses only current technology. I built it during July of 98 and it was the only model I feel I actually got right the first time…

…So here I am, a year later, and I’ve decided I’ve never quite been happy with the landing gear setup. So, I redesigned it. The new landing gear is retractable and the Kestrel looks much better with the gear up. I also lengthened the rotor blades by two studs, modified the engines, and fixed a few structural problems (replacing multiple smaller pieces with single larger ones, reinforcing weak points, etc).

I started this one in July of 98, just before I built the Kestrel. Finally, six months later, I believe I have a final version of it ready. The wings and tail have remained the same, but the cabin and landing gear have been redesigned (repeatedly…). Among other things, the cabin looks more like a bird of prey and less like a bus.

The Skyraider is the first of the next generation of air/space craft powered by matter-antimatter technology. The two cylindrical structures behind the wings can hold a combined total of 1.2 kg of antimatter–more than enough to power the craft for literally years–and can be jettisoned in an emergency.

Propulsion is provided by three separate systems. The main engines are standard jet engines and are located behind the cabin. When the Skyraider leaves the atmosphere, propulsion is provided by the secondary system, the venting of plasma from the rear of the craft. This is terribly less efficient than the jet engines, but necessary if there is no oxygen present. Plasma venting can be used at any time, in or out of the atmosphere for a silent operating mode. The final propulsion system is based on a small directional antigravity generator located on the underside of the craft, between the antimatter containment pods. The generator can be used to provide lift, making the Skyraider a VTOL aircraft, much like its 20th century predecessor, the Harrier.

The Skyraider’s armament consists of two 800 MegaWatt burst Laser canons mounted on the wings and two Particle Beam cannons mounted on the cabin. The lasers vaporize most metals instantly and the PB-guns have been known to shatter small astroids. The defense system is also based on the antigravity generator, which can generate an antigravity force field around the craft. This field can deflect any projectile, but has no effect against laser weapons.

NOT COMPLETE YET! I still need to add the laser cannon and fix a few other things in the .dat file, but here is a general idea of the Arilou. More views will be up shortly!

Inspired by the Arilou from the video game “Star Control”, the Arilou is a mysterious flying saucer that defies most of the central laws of physics. It is equipped with a Zero-Inertia Drive system, which allows it to accellerate instantaneosly, as well as letting it ignore any and all forces attempting to act upon it. All that is known about this system is that it somehow completely nullifies the Arilou’s mass, allowing it to perform the bizarre assortment of meneuvers it is famous for. A favorite tactic of Arilou pilots is to approach a nearby blackhole or other massive body, and dare their attacker to step too close.

As if the Zero-Inertia system weren’t enough, the Arilou is also equipped with a powerful, albeit, unpredictable, hyperdrive. Arilou’s have vanished from radar screens only to reappear instantly half a lightyear away. It is assumed that the beings who designed the Arilou intended for this technology to be used as a last ditch effort, since the saucers apparently cannot controlwhere they go when the hyperdrive is activated. A few unfortunate Arilou pilots have lost their lives by rematerializing too close to stars or even inside of planets.

The Arilou is armed solely with a small, belly mounted pulse laser on a turret. The weapon has automatic aim, but fairly short range. When the attacker gets close enough, this small weapon can inflict significant, but not devastating damage. Experienced Arilou pilots do not try to destroy their enemy, rather, they try to make their enemy destroy himself or give up.

The Starling is a light recon craft armed solely with a rear mounted laser cannon. Its two passengers are seated back to back with the gunner facing aft to give any would-be attackers the not-so subtle message of “don’t follow me.” It is lightly armed, lightly shielded, and is never known to attack head on. Its main power is in its high speed and agility.

The Sparrow Killer is another revision of the immortal Alienator. My design is related to one of the alternate models on the box, but I’ve swapped a few things here and there.

As the story goes, the first allied fighter to ever meet up with this craft saw it, laughed, and jokingly called it a “sparrow killer”. His atoms were soon recycled by the new Blacktron fighter’s anti-matter ejection cannons, but the name stuck…

This fighter was originally designed as a counter to the allied forces’ smaller spacecraft. However, it packs enough of a punch to take on spacecraft considerably larger than it. Its primary weapons system is made up of two anti-matter cannons. Each cannon fires a dense ball of anti-matter at high velocity using an electro-magnetic propulsion system. The SK is also, of course, equipped with the standard Blacktron Cloaking system.

I designed this one way back in 5th grade (about 1988) while at daycamp. I was so proud of it that I asked the counselor to save it for me so that the next day, I could bring my camera and take a picture of it. Once I got my photos developed I built it again–this time using my own pieces.

Needless to say, the influence classic space has had on me is apparent in this model.